So there was another breach disclosed in January that I didn’t find out about until today. It’s an insider-error situation involving a software developer contractor who unintentionally exposed protected health information (PHI) of 550 patients on GitHub – for more than five years. Here is Affiliated Santé Group’s notification: January 30, 2017 RE: Notice of…
Category: Health Data
Stolen backup drive contained personal and health info of Local 693 members
Local 693 Plumbers, Pipefitters & HVACR Technicians has disclosed a breach to those enrolled in its benefit fund. The incident has also been reported to HHS. From its notification to members: We are writing to notify you that a device containing information regarding participants and beneficiaries of the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 693 Benefit Funds (“Funds”),…
Metropolitan Urology Group Notifies Almost 18,000 Patients of Ransomware Attack That Exposed PHI
As seen on the group’s web site: On January 10, 2017, Metropolitan Urology Group (MUG) was made aware that a ransomware attack that occurred on November 28, 2016 exposed certain patient health information to the hackers who infected two MUG servers with the ransomware virus. MUG has been working with a premier, international information technology…
“Curious” employee snooped on thousands of St. Charles Health System patient records
And this, kids, is why you need to monitor employee access to patient records and audit over longer periods. Kyle Spurr reports: A caregiver at St. Charles Health System accessed nearly 2,500 patients’ electronic medical records without authorization from the hospital. The caregiver told the hospital she viewed the files out of curiosity. Her actions…
Central Huron Health Records Snooping Case Prosecuted
John Chippa reports: A Justice of the Peace in Goderich has handed down the stiffest fine to date in Canada for a health privacy breach. A university student who was on an educational placement with the family health team in Central Huron has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and a $5,000 victim surcharge…
UK: Devon doctors’ surgery says sorry for data breach
C_Abbott reports: A Devon doctors’ surgery that attempted to improve its service for patients has seen its efforts backfire after a newsletter was sent out with patients’ email addresses on display. The security breach affected around 1,000 patients of Pembroke House Surgery in Paignton on Tuesday afternoon. Following the administrative error, the surgery wrote to patients to…